Fannie Mae National Housing Survey Finds Consumers High on Housing

Consumer confidence continued to climb in Fannie Mae’s September National Housing Survey.

by Peter Ricci

The latest National Housing Survey from Fannie Mae is finding consumer confidence on the housing market at an all-time high, bolstered by record-low mortgage rates and rising prices.

A survey of 1,000 Americans, Fannie conducted the National Housing Survey throughout September, and in addition to optimism on housing, it also tracked a newfound confidence towards the overall U.S. economy.

Fannie Mae National Housing Survey – Real Estate Joy

The National Housing Survey gauged consumers on a number of housing-related topics, including:

Survey respondents expect home prices to increase by an average of 1.5 percent in the next year, which marks nearly a fully year of positive price expectations from respondents.

Thirty-seven percent of those surveyed expect home prices to go up in the next year, the highest level since the survey’s inception in June 2010.

Just 33 percent expect mortgage rates to increase in the next 12 months, a 7 percent decline from August.

Naturally, 69 percent of the respondents said they would buy if they were moving (an all-time high), but, in a highly promising touch, 19 percent thought now was a good time to sell, which is the highest level since the survey began.

Seventy-two percent of respondents said that now is a good time to buy.

Doug Duncan – Consumers Showing “Increasing Faith”

Doug Duncan, the senior vice president and chief economist of Fannie Mae, said that the National Housing Survey demonstrates a new level of confidence in consumers for the housing recovery.

“Consumers are showing increasing faith in the nascent housing recovery,” Duncan said. “Home price change expectations have remained positive for 11 straight months, and the share expecting home price declines has stabilized at a survey low of only 11 percent. Furthermore, the Federal Reserve’s latest round of quantitative easing has caused a large drop in mortgage rate expectations.”

Also helping matters, Duncan said, is the overal economy. Forty-one percent of respondents think the economy is on the right track – an all-time high – and though 53 percent think it’s on the wrong track, that’s the lowest percentage Fannie has ever tracked.

“Friday’s September jobs report, including the strong upward revisions for prior months, a sizable increase in earnings, and a sharp decline in the unemployment rate, should provide further impetus for improving consumer confidence in the housing market,” Duncan said.